PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Key Concepts in International Relations

Transnational actors have qualitatively transformed the world by the way of their fresh insights and actions. Illustrate your answer with suitable examples.

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes

Route 1 Thiel: cross-border agents pursuing goals independently of governments → impact is qualitative, not additional → interstate cooperation gives way to multi-actor governance

Route 2 open with the shift itself: rules once written only by states → today ideas, delivery and legitimacy come from outside them → place Thiel’s definition inside that shift

Body flow

fresh insights = ideas → advocacy networks + epistemic communities + World Bank / UNESCO → knowledge, agenda-setting, norm diffusion → persuasion, not command → winning coalitions built with domestic actors → Risse → then actions → MSF + Amnesty in Syria, Myanmar, Ukraine → Simmons: agenda, negotiation, legitimacy → MNCs (Google, Amazon, Apple) on tax and labour → Nye: direct and indirect pressure → Taliban and Hamas win recognition → state response → Scholte: post-sovereign governance (Basel, OECD, FATF) → formal inclusion: Cardoso Report, Global Compact

Counter-view

realists: these actors run on state sponsorship, no independent role → feminists: MNC policies harm women → Buzan: state remains the principal security provider

Conclusion routes

Route 1 the transformation is qualitative → rule-making, implementation and legitimacy are now shared tasks

Route 2 states remain central but are no longer the sole authors of world order → governance is multi-actor, not post-state

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2025, Key Concepts in International Relations